India can compete with China by focusing on production, says Rahul Gandhi

In an interaction on Sep 8 with students at the University of Texas in Dallas The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, emphasized the importance of concentrating on manufacturing in India by pointing out that although China is dominating global production, countries like the US, India, and other Western nations are struggling with unemployment.

Gandhi said that India had an abundance of skilled labor and that, with the right production alignment, it could compete with China.

In order to narrow the gap between the corporate and educational systems, he also emphasized the importance of supporting vocational training and called attention to the "ideological capture."

Gandhi is on an unofficial four-day visit to the US, visiting Dallas, Texas, and Washington DC, to engage with youth and members of the Indian diaspora. He will also be visiting Washington, DC, starting on Sep 9, and intends to meet the lawmakers and prominent US government officials.

Upon his arrival in Dallas on Sep 7, he was welcomed by numerous Indian-Americans, including Mohinder Gilzian, the president of the Indian National Overseas Congress, USA, and senior Congress official Sam Pitroda.

"The West has an employment problem. India has an employment problem... However, many countries around the world do not have an employment problem. China certainly doesn't have an employment problem. Vietnam doesn't have an employment problem," Gandhi said.

He continued, "If you look at the United States in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, they were the center of global production. Anything that was made, (be it) cars, washing machines, or TVs, all was made in the United States.”

“Production moved from the United States. It went to Korea, and it went to Japan. Eventually, it went to China. If you look today, China is dominating global production," he added.

“America, Europe, India, and the West have "given up on the idea of production" and have given it to China,” he said.

"The act of production creates jobs. What we do, what the Americans do, what the West does, is we organize consumption... India has to think about the act of production and organizing production,” said Rahul.

"It's not acceptable that India simply says, Okay, manufacturing—what you call manufacturing or production—is going to be the preserve of the Chinese. It's going to be the preserve of the Vietnamese. It's going to be the preserve of Bangladesh," Gandhi said.

He emphasized the need to encourage manufacturing.

"Until we do that, we will face high levels of unemployment. And frankly, it's not sustainable. So, you're going to see that if we carry on down this path of forgetting about manufacturing, you're going to see massive social problems coming in India and in the United States and Europe. The polarization of our politics is because of this," he added.

"Many people say that India has a problem with skills. I don't think India has a problem with skills. I think... India does not have respect for people who possess skills," he said.

Gandhi said that vocational training is necessary to connect the corporate and educational systems.

"Bridging that gap or linking these two systems, skills and education, through vocational training is fundamental. I think currently the huge problem with the education system is the ideological capture, where ideology is being fed through it," Gandhi said.

He expressed his belief that India can challenge China if it begins to prioritize output and value talent.

"I'm absolutely convinced of it. States like Tamil Nadu have already shown it. It's not that Indian states have not done it. Pune has shown it. Maharashtra has shown it. So, it is being done, but it's not being done at the scale and with the coordination that it needs to be done," Gandhi said.